Today video screens are used to provide a wide array of information to a viewer. Daily encounters with video screens include viewing television and CRT screens to viewing video screens that display radar information. Often times lighting conditions create a condition referred to as glare whereby surrounding light striking the video screen is reflected off the video screen in a harsh or offensive way thereby obstructing the view.
For example, portable televisions with self-contained power supplies have recently become increasingly popular and affordable. Televisions have become so small that they can even be worn on a watchband but more often they are of a size that is capable of being comfortably hand held. Oftentimes the viewer of one of these portable televisions will be viewing the video screen while situated in an outdoor environment such as at the beach or at a sporting event. These viewers have become familiar with and annoyed by the glare associated with this outdoor viewing. In an effort to eliminate this glare, some viewers use their hand to shade the video screen from sunlight, while others constantly change the position of the video screen. Although shading and changing the relative position of the video screen may help reduce glare, these solutions are temporary and inconvenient.
Another example of annoying glare is found in an office environment where work station lighting is used to illuminate a discrete work location including a CRT display. In this environment, the lighting typically produces glare on the CRT screen. The disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,569,572 and 4,444,465 to Kopich and Guilie et al. respectively have attempted to eliminate this type of glare by providing a visor to reduce the glare associated with lighting from above. However neither disclosure provides a solution for eliminating the most common type of glare, i.e. glare associated with reflection of light from the work surface.
Furthermore, glare is also experienced frequently when navigating a boat or plane in daylight. Often the daylight reflected from the radar screens and other visual instruments obscures the viewers vision.